NT chief minister Mills dumped

The CLP partyroom voted 11-15 to roll Mr Mills, who is in Japan and was told by phone, Sky News reported.
Photo: Penny Bradfield

by
Phillip Coorey | Chief political correspondent

The Northern Territory’s
Terry Mills
has become the second first-term Liberal leader to be dumped by his party in a week.

Mr Mills, who led the Country Liberal Party to a resounding victory just six months ago, was deposed in a coup on Wednesday – while he was in Japan.

He was told by phone that he had been rolled by 11 votes to five and replaced by his transport minister,
Adam Giles
, who became the first indigenous leader of a state or territory government.

The coup came a week after Vic­toria’s first-term premier,
Ted Baillieu
, was forced out and replaced by Denis Napthine.

In late January, the South Australian Liberal opposition leader Isobel Redmond stepped aside under pressure and was replaced by Steve Marshall.

On the same day that Mr Baillieu fell, Mr Mills survived a leadership challenge and subsequently left the country, believing his job to be safe.

Dave Tollner
, who was dumped from the ministry after last week’s failed coup, was made Deputy Chief Minister under Mr Giles.

The unrest in the CLP has been provoked by unpopular measures Mr Mills took to restore the Territory’s finances, including increasing power bills by up to 30 per cent. Its standing in the polls had plummeted and it suffered a heavy defeat in a by-election for the seat of Wanguri, securing just 28 per cent of the primary vote.

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The turmoil will not help the federal Coalition’s plans to seize from Labor the seat of Lingiari, held by federal Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and for Indigenous Health
Warren Snowdon
.

There are only two federal seats in the NT and the Coalition holds the other seat, Solomon.

Mr Snowdon said “time would tell’’ what the federal impact would be but the CLP had become a rabble and there was a case to call a fresh election.

He said the local business community and the people had lost all faith in the CLP. “The confidence of the Northern Territory community has been shot to pieces," he said. “The people of the Northern Territory are fed up to the back teeth with these shenanigans."

He also questioned how the vote could have been 11-5, given there were only 16 members of the CLP government and Mr Mills, his Treasurer and Tourism Minister were all absent on Wednesday and did not vote.

Federal Opposition Leader
Tony Abbott
played down Mr Baillieu’s ousting as an “orderly transition’’ but was understood to be concerned at events in the NT. Labor supporters of
Julia Gillard
said if the Prime Minister’s detractors were blaming her for Labor’s heavy loss in Western Australia on the weekend, then she should be given credit for the dismal state of the Liberal governments in Victoria and the NT.

Mr Mills is only the fourth first-term, elected leader to be dumped in 17 years. The others were South Australian premier Dean Brown, in 1996, prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2010 and Mr Baillieu.